Pregnancy Smartphone Apps: Which Ones Are Useful?

Today, Fox 5 News has a story about an Atlanta doctor who created an application for iPhones and iPads that helps pregnant women share their prenatal appointments with loved ones who are far away.

Dr. Keshma Saujani invented the Luv Dub app, which can record a prenatal visit with video and audio — and then, you can send video of the sonogram in an email or share it on social networks. It's a free application.

The story made me think of Baby Project participant Ashley Charter, whose husband, Jesse, is deployed with the Army in Iraq during the final few months of her pregnancy. And it got me wondering what other smartphone applications are out there for pregnant women.

Here are just a few that I dug up (the first two are also available on the Android):

Baby Bump: Helps you track your baby's development, your weight gain, photos as you grow, doctor's appointments — and it tells you about common pregnancy symptoms, body changes and food cravings. (You can upgrade to count kicks later in your pregnancy). (Free)

BabyCenter My Pregnancy Today: Tells you how your body is changing day to day, with fetal development images each week. Connects you with other moms with similar due dates. (Free)

Contraction Master: This app has a timer that helps you and your coach time contractions during labor. The contractions are categorized into how severe they are (from very mild to very strong) and a bar chart that shows you how you're progressing. ($1.99) (There's a similar app called Contraction Tracker USA that has an alert for when you should go to the hospital, also $1.99.)

iThankYou: With this app, you can take photos of the baby gifts you received and when. And it will not only pair the photo with an address in your address book, it will also show an icon next to each gift indicating whether you sent a thank-you note. ($1.99)

Do you have any pregnancy or pre-pregnancy smartphone applications you or a loved one either rely on or relied on — whether practical or fun?

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